Moody 422/425 Thornycroft 42hp

[Sean Reardon]

Hi
we are consider buying a 1990 Moody 425 which is fitted with a Thornycroft 42hp engine from 2005 with 1900 engine hours.
Is the 42hp bigger enough for this boat noting that many similar vessels have >50hp?
What is the life expectancy of the Thornycroft engine and how does 1900 hr relate?
Any information or opinions regarding the Thornycroft and how do they compare with the more common marine inboards for reliability, maintenance and access to parts?

 

[Brian Hawkesworth]

Sean,

The Thorneycroft is a marinised Ford Escort diesel engine. I would say 1900 hours is quite low for the age of engine. I found my Thornycroft engine was OK but the things that failed were stuff like the sea water pump and heat exchanger. Power seemed to be OK.

Thorneycroft closed as a company some years ago. Parts are available if you know where to look.

i changed my engine 4 years ag to a Beta 50 and have never regretted the decision. How many 33 year old Ford Escorts do you see driving around now?

Your engine might be fine, but I would budget for buying a new one in case it isn’t.

Regards,

Brian,

 

[Sean Reardon]

Thank

Sean,

The Thorneycroft is a marinised Ford Escort diesel engine. I would say 1900 hours is quite low for the age of engine. I found my Thornycroft engine was OK but the things that failed were stuff like the sea water pump and heat exchanger. Power seemed to be OK.

Thorneycroft closed as a company some years ago. Parts are available if you know where to look.

i changed my engine 4 years ag to a Beta 50 and have never regretted the decision. How many 33 year old Ford Escorts do you see driving around now?

Your engine might be fine, but I would budget for buying a new one in case it isn’t.

Regards,

Brian,

Thanks Brian, good background

 

[Peter Wright]

Hi Sean,

The two Thornycroft enginesoffered originally in the M425 were the T98, based on the 1600 cc Ford XLD 416 and the T 110, based on the 1800 cc Ford XLD418. Although these engines claimed outputs of 50 and 56 hp respectively, these engines were certainly not capable of delivering such powers at the gearbox output coupling - regulation on claimed engine output has tightened considerably since those days, specifying more tightly how and where the output power must be measured.

The "50 hp" T 98 was fine for pushing the boat in and out of a marina or even making a passage on a flat sea in a calm, but struggled to push a M425 to windward with a heavy head sea - I have seen speed drop to 3 knots in such conditions with the standard two bladed prop. I suspect a modern Beta 50 (48.9 hp) would put out more power than either of the two original Thornycroft options and I know that the Beta 60 (56 hp) does.

I don't know what Thornycroft engine the boat you describe has, a 42hp Thorrnycroft from 2005 doesn't ring any bells with me, but a 2005 engine with only 1900 hours on it should last many more years if properly maintained. It may struggle to push a M425 into a gale, but will probably get you off a lee shore eventually. I would certainly want to know what model of Thornycroft engine is fitted before buying this boat, if the engine dates from 2005! It seems unlikely its a T98 or T110 so probably not based on the Ford Escort engines.

Peter.

 

[Graham Bibby]

I've the same engine, from 1998, but on my M376. The engine has run well, with only around 1000 hours. When I bought the boat I thought the engine was under-powered. However in the past 5 years I replaced the 2-bladed fixed prop with a Darglow feather stream feathering 3 bladed prop. The improvement is very significant. Whether this is as a result of the third blade or a modern blade design I wouldn't like to say, but the increase in performance is significant. If you're considering buying a larger boat with this engine, count the blades!

 

[Peter Wright]

Hi,

I'm quite sure Graham's improved performance FR his engine is due to the 3 bladed prop. But I'm not sure which engine he's referring to, a T98, a T110, or the mystery 42 hp engine.

Whichever fighting into a gale with the taller rig of the M425 will need more horsepower than with a M376.

Graham wisely chose a reathering 3 bladed prop for his upgrade. While changing from the original 2 blade fixed prop to a 3 blade fixed will improve performance under power, it will have a noticeable detriment to performance under sail due to the extra drag.

Peter.

 

[John and Elsa]

Having just replaced the old T98 Thornycroft (based the 1.6 litre Ford escort) with a new Yanmar 4JH57 in our Moody 422 all I can say is, the old beast served well for 35 years. However, the replacement bits were just getting too numerous (water pumps, oil cooler, exhaust) and expensive, I could go on. The most noticeable difference has been the performance though. Same shaft but a new 3 bladed prop and she powers into the wind and sea like the proverbial manure off a shovel. The 50 NM passage from Fethiye to Rhodes, that used to take us 10 hours (always into the wind) took 6.5 hours with the Yanmar, at only 2200 rpm. Haven't noticed any difference under sail. The old beast is still sitting in Fethiye if anyone wants it or its bits (no charge). The new beast fitted with minimal fettling.

 

[Oskar Bleckmann]

Having just replaced the old T98 Thornycroft (based the 1.6 litre Ford escort) with a new Yanmar 4JH57 in our Moody 422 all I can say is, the old beast served well for 35 years. However, the replacement bits were just getting too numerous (water pumps, oil cooler, exhaust) and expensive, I could go on. The most noticeable difference has been the performance though. Same shaft but a new 3 bladed prop and she powers into the wind and sea like the proverbial manure off a shovel. The 50 NM passage from Fethiye to Rhodes, that used to take us 10 hours (always into the wind) took 6.5 hours with the Yanmar, at only 2200 rpm. Haven't noticed any difference under sail. The old beast is still sitting in Fethiye if anyone wants it or its bits (no charge). The new beast fitted with minimal fettling.

Hi, great to hear you like the new 4JH57 Engine. I'm looking into a similar option with a 3 bladed folding prop.
Would you have more specifications on the gearbox you went for and which prop and size you used?
Anything out of the ordinary to swap the engines or a more or less drop in?
Thanks a lot
Oskar

 

[John and Elsa]

Good evening Oskar, We went for a Hurth standard 2:1 reduction gear box. The engineers said that they were able to use the old prop shaft but unfortunately, I don't have the prop size data to hand (will let you after our visit in June. The engine fitted through the main hatch without any problems and required not major adjustment to the engine bed. Good luck